Proxima 4 was launched into the European market in December 2016 and a positive reaction to the product has been received with forward visibility of an expanding sales pipeline. Over 40 hospital departments have engaged with Sphere Medical on Proxima 4 and have requested evaluations, of which more than 30 have undergone a product demonstration. Evaluations, in which the system is connected to patients, have been conducted at 14 hospital departments and to date six hospital departments across three countries have placed orders for Proxima 4, more than doubling the key metrics over the two months from the announcement of our Full Year Results on 28 February 2017. Follow-up discussions are underway with the other hospitals which have conducted evaluations.

One of the advantages of Proxima 4 over the previously available product, Proxima 3, is the paediatric application, where a patient’s blood conservation during procedures is typically even more critical than in adults. Since the launch of Proxima 4, the system has been connected to children for the first time and the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital has already placed an order, becoming the first paediatric unit to purchase Proxima product.

In continental Europe, the list of product distributors continues to expand and now includes Eumedics Medizintechnik GmbH in Austria. Training, marketing and monitoring of patients in hospitals are now underway via Burke and Burke in Italy and Prhoinsa is on track to commence marketing in Spain imminently.

Production processes have now been fully converted to Proxima 4 from the earlier product iteration, Proxima 3, and the establishment of Sphere’s manufacturing facility in Wales has continued to progress according to plan. As is normal in the ramp up of wafer based technologies, a key focus remains on increasing product yield. We have been experiencing occasional limitations on the supply of Proxima 4 sensors. However, whilst supply is currently low, the Board is confident that yields will improve and there will be sufficient supply in place to meet the sales targets for the current full year and beyond.

Wolfgang Rencken, CEO of Sphere Medical, said:“We are very pleased with the market reaction to Proxima 4 and encouraged by the early response from customers. We look forward to building on this through 2017.”